STREET CLEANING!

On the morning of 7-31-08 we had street cleaning on cherokee road. I saw signs posted the night before on my way in from work. I thought I would just set my alarm a little early and move my car in the morning. Well, I didn't make it and was slapped with a ticket.

I've seen this happen to other people when I lived on E. Breckinridge, but always found somewhere to park my car. My mother who lives on Kennedy Court in Crescent Hill, says that they don't ticket cars on her street that are still parked during cleaning. They just clean around them while the signs are still posted.

Shocked, I talked to my father about it and he confirmed that nobody has ever been ticketed. They have lived there since 1973! I just want to know, has anyone else noticed this. What's the policy? Should I call the city? Why post no parking signs if you are not going to ticket parked cars? This just does not seem fair. Anyone have any insight into this?
Frustrated,
Dave Nelson

[Robin Garr]

Dave, sorry you got hit. It seems to me that it's random ... more often than not, they'll just clean around parked cars on our street in Crescent Hill, but I've seen tickets given. Maybe it all depends on whether there's anyone around with ticket-writing authority? I would guess that the street cleaners can't do it themselves, and I could see where the city wouldn't really want to detail a cop to follow them around. They're mostly too busy moonlighting as private security or sitting in their cars on the Interstates to help people see road work projects.

During the past few street cleanings, I have witnessed the police giving tickets a bit after 8 AM here in the Original Highlands. The same officer hit at least two streets.


MissChele

Must need to get his quota. Cars parked on streets are easy targets, I guess.

Technically, I live in Clifton - not Crescent Hill - but I most certainly have gotten a parking ticket for not moving my car in time for street cleaning. Somehow it just seems much worse when you get a parking ticket right outside your own darn house!

I've seen parking police/meter maids giving out the tickets in their own special cars...all they do are tickets...tickets are becoming more of a source of revenue for cities so it's only a matter of time before it hits us here in da 'ville...

Chicago is now considering booting cars after two parking tickets (it's three now) and a very reputable source said that he recently got a parking ticket while in Chicago, didn't pay it, and got a letter that his Ky license would be suspended as there's a reciprocal agreement between the states...a suspended license for one parking ticket from Chicago...so quit your complaining

I was downtown yesterday and saw a booted car and was SOOOO reminded of the fear and loathing of aggressive ticketing....in Chicago (yeah, I've lived there) people are hired to walk and drive around every residential street, entering license plate numbers into handhelds and authorizing boots...it's a BIG untapped revenue source...and as the deficits grow...

but back to the topic, it does seem to be hit or miss here...and I gotta also mention, I've NEVER been stopped for a traffic violation here...and I am not a perfect driver...in Chicago it's routine to be stopped at least once a year even if you're not in anybody's profile list...so it could be worse...

Mari

All I know is that meter maids armed with handhelds roam the streets of the original highlands waiting for the clock to strike the right time, and start processing tickets left and right. This practice does not seem to happen in other neighborhoods.

I understand the revenue that can be generated from this, but what if they were that hard on every neighborhood?

I guess I fail to see what the big deal is. If you are violating a parking regulation you should be prepared to get a ticket. To me its kind of like speeding. Most of us do it but rarely get busted. I think this town is incredibly lax on parking enforcement and perhaps that contributes to people's outrage when they get tickets? While I know its not popular, I'd actually like to see stricter enforcement in certain instances. Take Bardstown Rd during "rush hour". No parking signs are clearly posted and are there to help traffic flow. Inevitably there are always a few parked cars sitting there causing more congestion. Additionally, with the limited amount of street cleaning that the city does, I think its appropriate to tow so that the whole street can be cleaned.

When I lived in San Francisco, I would watch the parking patrols deploy in their little Cushman cars and start writing tickets and towing cars promptly when the appropriate hour struck. As a result streets were clear for traffic or street cleaning when they needed to be and things flowed as smoothly as possible. Even though I was nailed by them on too many occasions to count, I always understood that those were the consequences of my actions.

[Robin Garr]

I gotta also mention, I've NEVER been stopped for a traffic violation here...and I am not a perfect driver...in Chicago it's routine to be stopped at least once a year even if you're not in anybody's profile list...so it could be worse...

Based on observation and a few social chats with cops, I'm convinced that the incidence of pullovers has dropped way off in Louisville since I last worked for the newspapers in the 1980s, and I've been told that - even with profiling - it's directly related to a fear (perhaps a bit paranoid) that any random driver may be armed and ready to shoot. I hope this isn't true - it would be a little outrageous for police to be afraid to do their job - but I've heard it from pretty reliable, albeit necessarily anonymous, sources.

[Robin Garr]

I guess I fail to see what the big deal is. If you are violating a parking regulation you should be prepared to get a ticket.

I can't speak for Dave, but as I interpret his post, he's not denying wrongdoing but expressing frustration at the extreme randomness of enforcement.

Exactly Robin. What I'm frustrated about is why one neighborhood gets slammed, and one has gotten off the hook for almost as long as I've been living. Rules are rules, right? If the city has a policy, it should be enforced across the board. Make sense?

Bardstown Road is the absolute worst. It's a nightmare to navigate, because you never know when a parked car is going to pop into view!

[Robin Garr]

Exactly Robin. What I'm frustrated about is why one neighborhood gets slammed, and one has gotten off the hook for almost as long as I've been living. Rules are rules, right? If the city has a policy, it should be enforced across the board. Make sense?

Sure it makes sense! Stuff like this is almost never done even-handedly, though. Look at restaurant inspection, where it's long been reported that some inspectors are tough but fair, some lazy and careless and some seem to have it out for certain places. It could be as simple a matter as that: A tough meter maid in your neighborhood, a lackadaisacal one in mine ... and maybe they switched beats this week.

Well said Robin. I feel better now. Still not fair though.

P.S. I've been through the health inspector thing, and you are right.

Street cleaning? You GET street cleaning? I have been in this house for over 15 years and have never gotten one, except when the neighbors swept/shoveled it ourselves. A lot of what happens in neighborhoods is dependent on the "squeeky wheel" syndrome. If the neighborhood association or the council member, or even some outspoken individual is one, things get done. Also, from my prespective, it looks like if it is a major road, the tickets go out and the tow trucks show up, but on side streets they do not. As to towing, the USD only has so many tow trucks (when last I worked the street, some times of day only 2), and accidents and criminal tows take precedence.

BTW - the "boot" here is only put on cars with a lot of unpaid tickets. They have to settle ALL of them to get it removed.